This is good for everyone to read.
A good friend of mine wanted me to pass this around.


https://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/heartattack.asp

*I was aware that female heart attacks are
different,
but this is the best description I've ever read ......Women and heart
attacks

(Myocardial infarction) *


*Did you know that women rarely have the same
dramatic
symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack...you know, the
sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest &
dropping to the floor that we see in the movies Here is the story of one
woman's experience with a heart attack. *


------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------

*'I had a completely unexpected heart attack at
about
10:30 pm with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one
would suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on
a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting
story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the
life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped
up.' *



*A moment later, I felt t hat awful sensation
of
indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich
and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to
feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow
motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have
gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this
time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach.
This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken
a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m. *



*'After that had seemed to subside, the next
sensation
was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE
(hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they
continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses
rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued
on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. *



*'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was
happening--we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being
one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to
myself and the cat, 'Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!' I
lowered the foot rest, dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a
step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself 'If this is a
heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone
is or anywhere else......,but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody
will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able
to get up in moment'



**I pulled myself up with the arms of the
chair,
walked
slowly into the next room, and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I
though t I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under
the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or
afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics
over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to
unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me
when they came in. **'I then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their
examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their
ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but
I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was
already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my
stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending ov er me asking questions
(probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I
couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer,
and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner
had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery
into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side
stents to hold open my right coronary artery. *



*' I know it sounds like all my thinking and
actions at
home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the
Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call,
and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my
home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and
get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my
arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents. *



*'Why have I written all of this to you with so
much
detail? I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I
learned first hand.' *



*1. Be aware that something very different is
happening
in your body not the usual men's symptoms, but inexplicable things
happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that
many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they
didn't know they were having one, and commonly mistake it as
indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation, and
go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake
up....which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not
be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING
is unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to
have a 'false alarm' visitation than to risk your life guessing what it
might be! *



*2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics'.
Ladies, TIME
IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a
hazard to others on the road, and so is your panicked husband who will
be spe eding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead
of the road. Do NOT call your doctor--he doesn't now where you live and
if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his
assistant (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics.
He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The
Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be
notified later.



*3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack
because
you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI **(unless it's
unbelievably high, and/or accompanied by high blood pressure.) MI's are
usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which
dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up
in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be
careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could
survive... *



*A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this
mail
sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one
life. *



***Please be a true friend and send this
article
to all
your friends you care about***

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